Where was Bertie? He was at a large, free, wasteground sort of an Aire at Sant Jaume d'Enveja. Exact location: 40.70548, 0.71293.
Weather: Overcast (with a few glimpses of brightness) until mid-afternoon, then constant rain (mainly light).
In other circumstances we could have happily pottered around Peñíscola for another day or two, but with our time so limited we thought we'd best head further north, even if only in small increments initially. I'd chosen Sant Jaume d'Enveja for two reasons: 1) it has an Aire; 2) a glance at the map told me there was somewhere good to run there, and Saturday is long run day.
We nearly had a change of plan within a kilometre of leaving the motorway for the final approach to the town, as we could clearly see that it was sitting under a dark cloud, where everywhere around was much brighter. Whilst Mick looked for somewhere to pull over and turn around, I frantically consulted weather forecasts. It seemed that we were in for a day of light rain in Sant Jaume, but a dry Saturday, whereas if we travelled further north we would have a dry Friday but heavy rain on Saturday. Given that choice, onwards to Sant Jaume we went.
Pulling into a spot in the rapidly-emptying Aire (it was just before 10am, the start of peak-departure time), Bertie was found to be dead level. This would be ideal if he wasn't leaking and we didn't have a forecast for a day of rain. Going against usual standards, we moved him to put him nose-down (skipping forward to Saturday: the ploy worked - no water ingress).
With that sorted, Mick was despatched on a mission to find a panadería, whilst I put the coffee pot on the stove.
Happily, the few drops of rain that had fallen as we approached the Aire hadn't amounted to anything, and it was still dry as we finished our coffee. We made hay whilst the sun shone, and headed out to recce the way to the river, before looking around the town.
After walking the 'high street' (more village than town, although it did have three bakeries and half a dozen eateries) three times over, and investigating some of the back streets in search of grocery shops (our mission to find some ginger is ongoing; it's not a popular item in Spain), we came to question why this town has an Aire. There's clearly nothing whatsoever in the town to appeal to tourists.
The answer I reached is that it lies on the edge of the Ebre Delta Natural Park, and it's been provided to enable tourism into that area.
This is everything I now know about the Ebre Delta Natural Park
Given the early hour of day, if it hadn't been for the offer of such navigationally easy running for Saturday, we would have moved on somewhere else, where interesting things were within walking distance of Bertie.
What to do for the afteroon? Laundry! A necessary evil, but it's the last time we'll need to do it on this trip. It was at around 1430, whilst the clothes were drying, that the rain started. Not bad, considering the forecast. It didn't stop for the rest of the day, or night.
Weather: Overcast (with a few glimpses of brightness) until mid-afternoon, then constant rain (mainly light).
In other circumstances we could have happily pottered around Peñíscola for another day or two, but with our time so limited we thought we'd best head further north, even if only in small increments initially. I'd chosen Sant Jaume d'Enveja for two reasons: 1) it has an Aire; 2) a glance at the map told me there was somewhere good to run there, and Saturday is long run day.
We nearly had a change of plan within a kilometre of leaving the motorway for the final approach to the town, as we could clearly see that it was sitting under a dark cloud, where everywhere around was much brighter. Whilst Mick looked for somewhere to pull over and turn around, I frantically consulted weather forecasts. It seemed that we were in for a day of light rain in Sant Jaume, but a dry Saturday, whereas if we travelled further north we would have a dry Friday but heavy rain on Saturday. Given that choice, onwards to Sant Jaume we went.
Pulling into a spot in the rapidly-emptying Aire (it was just before 10am, the start of peak-departure time), Bertie was found to be dead level. This would be ideal if he wasn't leaking and we didn't have a forecast for a day of rain. Going against usual standards, we moved him to put him nose-down (skipping forward to Saturday: the ploy worked - no water ingress).
With that sorted, Mick was despatched on a mission to find a panadería, whilst I put the coffee pot on the stove.
Ten minutes after arrival
Happily, the few drops of rain that had fallen as we approached the Aire hadn't amounted to anything, and it was still dry as we finished our coffee. We made hay whilst the sun shone, and headed out to recce the way to the river, before looking around the town.
After walking the 'high street' (more village than town, although it did have three bakeries and half a dozen eateries) three times over, and investigating some of the back streets in search of grocery shops (our mission to find some ginger is ongoing; it's not a popular item in Spain), we came to question why this town has an Aire. There's clearly nothing whatsoever in the town to appeal to tourists.
The answer I reached is that it lies on the edge of the Ebre Delta Natural Park, and it's been provided to enable tourism into that area.
Given the early hour of day, if it hadn't been for the offer of such navigationally easy running for Saturday, we would have moved on somewhere else, where interesting things were within walking distance of Bertie.
What to do for the afteroon? Laundry! A necessary evil, but it's the last time we'll need to do it on this trip. It was at around 1430, whilst the clothes were drying, that the rain started. Not bad, considering the forecast. It didn't stop for the rest of the day, or night.
We spent the rest of the afternoon watching a tractor work the field in front of Bertie bundling the cut hay into big round bales. He was most certainly not making hay whilst the sun shone.
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